THE WORD
FIRST READING: Gen 14,18-20
Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High. He blessed Abram with these words: “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, the creator of heaven and earth; And blessed be God Most High, who delivered your foes into your hand.” Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
SECOND READING: 1 Cor 11,23-26
For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread, and, after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.
GOSPEL: Lk 9,11-17
The crowds, meanwhile, learned of this and followed him. He received them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close, the Twelve approached him and said, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and fi nd lodging and provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.” He said to them,
“Give them some food yourselves.” They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have, unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.” Now the men there numbered about five thousand. Then he said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of (about) fifty.”
They did so and made them all sit down. Then taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he said the blessing over them, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. They all ate and were satisfied. And when the leftover fragments were picked up, they filled twelve wicker baskets.
IN OTHER WORDS
While studying for his doctoral degree in economics at the Catholic University of Louvain, Elmer Frisnedi disputed with and battled against peers and, at times, his own professors who passionately subscribed to economic theories espoused by Adam Smith, Robert Malthus, John M. Keynes and Karl Marx. Elmer did not believe that to feed the hungry millions in our planet one has to “bake a bigger pie,” or wait patiently for the bene ts of economic progress to “trickle down” to the poor and suffering masses. Nor did Elmer accept the Marxist call for class struggle then proceed to ridicule
Christ’s teachings as some kind of “pie in the sky.” Systemic remedy or structural, call it evolutionary, improvements will not work if there is no conversion of the heart of man: the source of goodness sand evil.
In the gospel episode where thousands were left hungry after having followed the Lord and listened to him for quite some time, we note that the disciples advocated some kind of practical solutions. Some wanted to send the people away to fend for themselves not realizing that many would likely die of hunger if they would do so. Others wanted to buy, that is if enough money could be raised in so short a time to buy for the thousands waiting for food.
But, there was food given, wonder of wonders, by a young boy who was moved with pity and generosity to share the little that he had: some bread of poor quality and a couple of fish. But the little that was gladly offered and generously placed in the hands of the Lord did wonders.
After Jesus had blessed the meager food handed over to him, the disciples were able to distribute to and feed the thousands of men women, and children. And, as the gospel says, all were satisfied.
Moreover, there was so much food left over. God has blessed our world with so many resources. We do not really need to dine sumptuously or drink ne and exquisite drinks. Our needs are basically simple and easy to satisfy. The problem lies in the human tendency to hoard and the reluctance to share. Added to this problem is our forgetfulness that all that we have, even all that we are, are from God. His generosity is without end. Can we do the same or be generous likewise?
My good friend, Elmer Frisnedi, who is now working for the government jousts daily with other economists and courageously proclaim in his own manner that there is amazing wisdom in God’s way.
- Fr. Florencio Lagura, SVD | U.S.A.
The Word in other words 2016
An annual project of Logos Publications, The WORD in Other Words Bible Diary contains daily scripture readings and reflections written by priest, brothers, and sisters of the three congregations founded by St. Arnold Janssen (the SVD, SSpS, and SSpSAP). It hopes to serve as a daily companion to readers who continually seek the correlation of the Word of God and human experience.
